Our client is a national lender providing bridge loans to top tier real estate developers – a fast growing specialty finance niche with attractive risk-adjusted return characteristics. Headquartered in the Los Angeles area, they have a leading presence in Los Angeles and the broad Southern California market and have expanded into numerous other urban markets, including Arizona, Florida, Northern California, and the New York City and NY Metro Area. They offer construction financing (36%), renovation financing (38%), and bridge loans for initial purchase or refinance of in process/ completed projects (26%).

The business was established in 2007 and has been an active lender having originated over 3,000 loans totaling over$3 billion. Throughout their history, they have maintained outstanding underwriting standards yielding zero credit losses and have grown from originating ~$5 million per month to ~$100 million per month. Given the size of the addressable market, the company is well positioned for continued and sustained growth.

The business received a strategic investment from Oaktree Capital Management in January 2014 to accelerate its platform development and capital deployment. In October 2017, it was announced that another major Wall Street firm would acquire (Jan 2018) the company from Oaktree enabling them to continue to grow the platform and focus on achieving additional scale both in current market segments and with new products and financing solutions to a broader and national customer base. The company’s strategy is to dramatically grow core business nationally and enter adjacent products/markets to achieve $3+ billion in originations by 2020.

Position SummaryThe Senior Vice President, Construction & Development will be responsible for the development and ongoing build-out of the company’s construction risk and development infrastructure and systems including processes, policies, procedures, technology systems, reporting and analytics to enable the business to effectively underwrite, track, analyze and report all key data related to Construction and Development within their organization.

The individual will also directly manage all construction and development activities including management and reporting of portfolio construction status, loan extensions, equity construction projects, construction risk indicators, and other portfolio oversight activities as agreed to with the EVP – Construction & Development and the Executive Committee.

The SVP will bring management and operational leadership and support to the EVP Construction & Development as well as the entire construction team while joining as an active resource to the leadership team in matters such as construction borrower and loan underwriting/vetting and fund control and draw administration.

Best qualified candidates will have leadership experience working for a lender or other business focused on assessing construction risk / development risk in the commercial lending industry. Single family or Multifamily construction management/oversight experience is desirable but not required.

The person in this role will effectively act as the lieutenant to the senior executive running the team and acting as that person’s proxy when needed.

Leadership Responsibilities• Cultivates and fosters team building and cooperation and effectively motivates team members to achieve goals and further their career development.

• Coaches and directs the activities of the work group and ensures that the construction team members have appropriate training and all the needed resources to do their jobs.

• Manages, trains, develops, and motivates team members to achieve and exceed performance goals. Establishes and continually improves business processes and enhances the ability of the company to help attract and retain high quality borrowers.

• Provides performance feedback to provide customized coaching on a regular basis to each team member. Address disciplinary and/or performance problems according to company policy.

Other Key ResponsibilitiesLead the development and/or enhancement, implementation, and monitoring of an institutional quality framework of processes, policies, procedures, reporting and analytics to enable the business to effectively capture, track, analyze and report on all key risk and performance data related to the construction department.

• Directly act in helping to manage the overall activities and enhance all construction and development processes including loan extensions, equity construction portfolio oversight/monitoring, construction status reporting, construction risk reporting, and any other development activities as may be deemed appropriate in collaboration with EVP Construction & Development and the Executive Committee

• Help lead and be the point of contact for the construction department and team on the build out of existing systems (GLASS) as necessary to support immediate business needs, and play a pivotal role to ensure best in class new construction management systems are developed as part of the company re-platforming process

• Assist with the day-to-day recruiting and management of the team by providing support including input on staff capacity and process improvement and in matters related to construction borrower and loan underwriting/vetting and fund control and draw administration.

• Collaborate closely with the draw and underwriting teams and the EVP to design customized profiles for borrowers to enable the construction team to provide a bespoke level of service by capturing and leveraging information obtained during meetings with borrowers

• When necessary, provide input on and assist construction team members in the structuring and underwriting of major loans and special-situation loans to assure the business maximizes originations while managing risk and enabling loan leverage or resale.

• Understand and research industry best practices on construction risk & development and leverage knowledge and research to improve policies, practices and infrastructure.

Experience/QualificationsTo perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty effectively. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• 10 + years overall experience in Residential or Commercial Real Estate Construction lending and construction loan development with the ability to provide senior team leadership support.

• Expert knowledge of complex commercial lending and financial deal structuring combined with a desire and ability to design and build a reporting and analytics framework to support the needs of the business.

• Real Estate industry knowledge related to credit and financial analysis including cash flow analysis, balance sheet analysis, profitability, liquidity and solvency analysis as is knowledge of the building and construction process and costing.

• Prior experience underwriting construction loans for mid-large size lender with the ability to understand property valuation and assess the development project-related risks.